Israeli cabinet vote on Gaza ceasefire deal postponed as Netanyahu accuses Hamas of seeking 'to extort last minute concessions'
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has said his Cabinet will not meet to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal until Hamas backs down from what it called a "last-minute crisis". Mr Netanyahu's office accused Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement in an attempt "to extort last minute concessions". It did not elaborate.
Mr Netanyahu's office had earlier accused Hamas of backtracking on an earlier understanding that he said would give Israel a veto over which prisoners convicted of murder would be released in exchange for hostages. The Israeli Cabinet was set to ratify the deal on Thursday.
Izzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group "is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators". US President Joe Biden and key mediator Qatar announced the deal on Wednesday. It would bring about the release of 33 hostages over the coming six weeks in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and an Israeli withdrawal from many parts of the territory.
Mr Netanyahu has faced great domestic pressure to bring home the scores of hostages, but his far-right coalition partners have threatened to bring down his government if he makes too many concessions. He has enough opposition support to approve an agreement, but doing so would weaken his coalition and make early elections more likely.
